During harvesting of cereal crops, corn or other kernel-producing plants by means of a combine, further plant materials are produced in addition to the clean crop, such as chaff and straw. These plant components, characterized herein as plant remains are, as a rule, deposited on the ground in the state of the art in order to take them up subsequently with a baler or a forage harvester (DE 1 096 667 A) or they are chopped by means of a straw chopper and distributed across the field. In order to be able to utilize the harvested crop remains for other purposes, for example, as animal bedding, feed, or blocking material, or for purposes of energy production, it has been proposed that the harvested crop remains be blown out of the combine, by means of a blower fastened to the frame of the combine and connected to a drive of a motor of the combine and to deposit it on a trailer that is pulled behind the combine (U.S. Pat. No. 3,669,123 A and SU 376 054 A).
Moreover it has been proposed (U.S. Pat. No. 3,317,064 A, U.S. Pat. No. 3,952,889 A, U.S. Pat. No. 5,941,768 A and AU 699 834 B) that a separate chassis be coupled to an attachment coupling on which a conveyor is located that would accept harvested crop remains ejected from the combine, a blower, and an internal combustion engine to drive the blower, as well as the conveyor and a storage container be provided. The conveyor conducts the harvested crop remains to the blower which, in turn, deposits them in the storage container.
The deposit of the harvested crop remains on the ground and the subsequent take-up by means of a baler or a forage harvester has the disadvantage that the harvested crop remains can be contaminated by particles on the ground. The blowers attached to the combine avoid this problem (U.S. Pat. No. 3,669,123 A and SU 376 054 A), but require energy from the internal combustion engine of the combine, which is not always available in a sufficient quantity. The chassis that are separately towed behind the combine with internal combustion engines and blowers are not subject to the same disadvantage, but they are rather cumbersome during operation of the combine on public roads, since they must in addition transport the cutter head of the combine, which, as a rule, is drawn along behind the combine on a trailer, which requires a separate tractor and operator. A further disadvantage of the chassis with internal combustion engine and blowers lies in the fact that no means are provided for the reduction of the harvested crop remains, which has shown itself to be particularly disadvantageous if they are to be used to produce bio-energy.